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I'm hoping that I will get some feedback from fliers across the country because I would like to know if what seems to work for me can be duplicated across the country.

Take a light wind kite (I use a sul 2.3 STX - but a single line kite will do just as well) and bang it to the top on 200 feet lines. I usually find wind at that level. Fly at that height for about 10 or 15 minutes.

Land the kite and wait about 10 minutes.

I have consistently found that the Ground Wind Will Show Up in About 10 Minutes and I am able to get in a decent afternoon.

If 15 minutes doesn't do it, you will probably be better off to pack it in.

Yes, I do know how to check the wind speed on the Weather Channel but I have often found that they can't even get the direction right, never mind the speed and, when you fly inland, 2 or 3 miles/hour makes the difference between a good day and a waste of two hours, 20+ miles, and $5.50 in tolls. Stoney

1+ on the Aerobe. No wind required. NOAA has RAWS (remote access weather stations) at airports across the country. Just Google "RAWS" for one near you. usairnet.com also has aviation forecasts and current conditions from airports across the country.

Denny

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I always wanted to be a procrastinator..........I just never got around to it.

Very interesting post.....Its been a long time...but years ago Todd and Kathy Goodwind found a spool of 400ft. 12 lb. pound "greenish" kevlar line that was sent to them "snail" mail from Europe. The late Paul Dehope and I during our breaktime at The Boeing Wind Tunnel took a "long lunch kite line test break" at the Aerospace Center parking lot. We first hooked up Mark Reed's little supa'light 3D test kite that we had been experimenting with in the Ball room of the Wind Tunnel a few weeks before.....onto those Looooooooooooooooooong 200 ft 12 lb. lines.That little kite looked as if it was about 6 blocks away from us...The wind was virtually calm at the parking lot level and like you say: We had to pump the !#$%^&*()%^&*()out of it..to get near the top of the window...We were both "blown away" at just how much smooooooooth steady totally bump free light wind was blowing. We traded off on that little 3D until we finally one of the lines broke. It fluttered down...We then hooked his little indoor Skyburner and carefully pumped that little kite up to that newly found prevailing smoooooth south wind and flew that kite for the rest of the 30 minutes before packin up and heading back to the Windtunnel so that we could fill out a tie in for the eve. tunnel bunch.

That is why TODAY....I STILL TRY TO NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT MY LONG 150 ft. 25lb. spectra lines and little super light weight indoor Goodwind Flashlight in the trunk.I have tried these 25 lb...150's on my tattered old beachrashed Vapor but with all that wing area...I get a pretty large amount of spongeeeeeness' on the hand straps...and quite a bit of "delayed input at the kite, not counting the stress on those 25lb-ders' that are only about 6 or 8 years old.(Sadly....after Paul Dehope passed I never had the chance to try those old 12 lb. lines again....since they ended up in Melinda and Paul's flying bags somewhere in time gone bye all too soon.I had often had folks stop and walk over to where I am flying and ask the same strange question..."HEY, IS THAT AN R/C FLYIN KITE?"

Since there are often NO WIND WHAT SO EVER...where I was standing.....Guess when you thumpk' bout' it....that wasn't such a dumb question coming from their lips?

I've always found the best way to scare up some flyable wind was to start setting up your indoor/sul kites, the lighter the better. The SSUL kite with the 8 ft span that weighs under 2 ounces, and is framed in ultra rare unobtanium helium encapsulated rods is best.

By contrast, the best way to scare down the wind is to start flying vented kites.

NOAA..umm..i think i have heard of them...oh wait...that is who i work for...i often forget about all the weather stuff we have (i work in the National Marine Fisheries Department)

the best thing i have ever found is the PORTS system via NOAAthe locations even have a 800 phone number for access at any time....

I notice some pretty high tech weather stations near the spots that I fly, Port Jefferson, NY and one harbor east, but I have not been able to find their data posted anywhere. The closest station on the PORTS program is New Haven, and I know that data doesn't really apply to what I'm going to find at the beach. Wrong side of the Sound...I do use the NOAA forcast and observations for my area, but I wonder how granular that data is. Any idea how to find out who's collecting the data from the stations that I can see, right there where I need the info from ? They're certainly government weather stations, not amatuer. I'm sure the one at Port Jefferson harbor is geared for the commercial traffic through the area. Thanks...~Rob.

Usually me showing up at the field is enough to scare any wind away. If that doesn't work putting together a kite will surely make it pretty scarce. I proved that Sunday, drove into the park while Bob's Dunton was flying straight overhead, by the time I got to the grass so was the kite

As far as Stoney's theory goes Ted always long lines out an SLK or two, never brought any wind down for us Dualies.

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"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

Over the years..in trying to "seek out wind" every addicted to the wind kite flyers have gone to many lengths in the often fruitless attempt to create enough wind to fly.For example...Years ago when I lived in the Federal Way Wa. area...I used to drive down to an empty parking lot at Emerald Downs Race track that was located just less than 70feet from a very very busy commuter & cross country train track.

On those days when the winds were virtually none existant...I could always grab my old Goodwind FlashLight (not the Prism) and my 90 ft.25lb. Spectra lines..Even on the calm conditions...just after a train had passed, I could usually have enough wind to fly.

The vortex tunnel that remained for many minutes after the train had passed, would create enough air off those train cars, would provide enough minimal wind for some really interesting and surprising flying.

Often just the vortex boundry layered conditions that followed those long long line of freight cars....would trigger enough to start a small wind direction flow change that would often last....??THAT IS, until a train traveling in opposite direction would really PLAY HELL and some very interesting wind reactions and new radical tricks that even Dodd Gross...would call Gross!

However....I did later find far more reliable source of constant and consistant wind source...at The Weyhauser home office open grass field located right next to Northbound I-5 freeway near Federal Way Wa.

All I had to do to find enough wind to fly on these calm days...was to set up my flying area near as I could get to the North bound freeway perimiter fencing.

This however seem to work ONLY IF THERE WERE NO PREVAILING WIND PRESENT.

Even at my work place at Boeing....during breaks I would often walk across the street with my little 3D and short 60ft. 25lb. lines...over to the huge hanger at the Boeing Delivery center. In the DEAD CALM days...you could count on a consistant and reliably smooth air flow of constant and often very smooth wind entering or exiting those huge open doors. Due to the heat and cold changes inside the hanger...would be enough to cause the air to flow. Again bottom line: The air temps. BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THE HANGERS would dictate the flyable condition. Also we had to saftey cone off kite flying area...and wear a special neon field workers jacket that was required by both security and the field co-ordinator of the day...as well as have a "spotter" (a captured co-worker or fellow addicted employee kite flyer) to stand bye as extra eyeballs.

Amazing just how many strange places and methods we try to find enough air to fly our kites....Hummm?I remember one Prism kite junkie that lost MY OLD borrowed beater Eclipse kite off the fantail Vashon Ferry upper deck..when the old tattered lines finally snapped..(The force of that Prism kite when it hit the water snapped the other remaining line instantly. Paul shared often with me...that he still had dreams of my old Red-Aqua-Black Prism Eclipse's wing tip sticking up out of water and the memory of it slowly became smaller and smaller in the distance..... with that beautiful skyline of Seattle as a beautiful back drop.

When I think about it...Yes, what a beautiful ending for that old beat up Prism kite that served soooo many fellow friends and co-workers.

Sorry for the rant...(blame the Starbucks new instant coffee that they gave me free this morn...here in Gig Haaba.

My theory about this wind thing is based on the fact that water has cold layers and hot layers as well as currants and still layers. Why shouldn't air have some of the same characteristics?. If you study the skies, you will see clouds moving when there is no ground wind. Suppose it would be possible to pierce the barrier between the still air and the moving air thereby causing the wind to escape to ground level. Wouldn't it be a really cool thing to be able to change a no wind day into a decent day of flying.

Now, I'm telling you that I have personally tried what I have described several times at different locations and that I have experienced what I have described. Sometimes the results are satisfactory and sometimes not as good.

Now wouldn't it be worth while to try this in your location and see if you can duplicate what I have described, given the fact that it's free and takes practically no effort?

Granted, it might have been a coincidence, but what if it actually worked?

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